Oh, that is sublime. In addition to all the other beautiful aspects of Mao's skating, it shows the wonderful positions of her arms and shoulders, and and the expressiveness of her face. To my mind, she has Michelle's quality of letting us in and taking us with her, and of making the music come alive.

Oh, that is sublime. In addition to all the other beautiful aspects of Mao's skating, it shows the wonderful positions of her arms and shoulders, and and the expressiveness of her face. To my mind, she has Michelle's quality of letting us in and taking us with her, and of making the music come alive.

Took the words right out of my mouth. I thought the same thing when I saw her live again at 4 Cs. The effect of Her artistry and musical expression on me reminds me of Michelle a bit, but for me, seeing her live is much better than on TV. Cant explain why....

I was just reading Mao Asada's Wiki page and it says that although officially, she is 163 cm, she is actually about 166 cm. She had a growth spurt during Vancouver Olympic year, and she experienced a weight gain. She was heaviest at 49.5kg during Russian Cup, and went on a diet and month later got herself down to 48kg.

I know Wiki is not the most reliable source, but I found the page to be well-written as a whole, and also, I remember looking at Mao and Yuna at Vancouver and she looked taller than Yuna (who is supposedly 163 or 164cm) when they stood side by side.

I wonder if she grew another centimeter or two after Vancouver? People keep on remarking that she is thinner and I agree, but she seems to have put back the weight she lost and yet she still seems longer/taller. And her shoulder width seems broader than it was during Vancouver Olympics. If she did, then she's one of these rare people who grew in their early 20's!

I was just reading Mao Asada's Wiki page and it says that although officially, she is 163 cm, she is actually about 166 cm. She had a growth spurt during Vancouver Olympic year, and she experienced a weight gain. She was heaviest at 49.5kg during Russian Cup, and went on a diet and month later got herself down to 48kg.

I know Wiki is not the most reliable source, but I found the page to be well-written as a whole, and also, I remember looking at Mao and Yuna at Vancouver and she looked taller than Yuna (who is supposedly 163 or 164cm) when they stood side by side.

I wonder if she grew another centimeter or two after Vancouver? People keep on remarking that she is thinner and I agree, but she seems to have put back the weight she lost and yet she still seems longer/taller. And her shoulder width seems broader than it was during Vancouver Olympics. If she did, then she's one of these rare people who grew in their early 20's!

Mao only looks an inch taller than Ashley in pictures from 4CC, and Ashley is listed as 160 cm. 163-164 is probably correct. I know that does not sound very tall, but once a skater is over 160 cm, she tends to look very tall when on the ice, especially if long legged like Mao. Polina Korobeynikova is listed as 166 cm, and to me she definitely looks taller than Mao. Carolina Kostner is 169 cm and looks much taller than Mao. Last I heard, Mao is 163 or 164 cm and 47 kg. Although there was some article I read recently saying she lost 5 kilograms or something. So if she's 42 kg now and actually 166 cm, that is concerning.

I don't know about 5 kg, but she has definitely lost weight in the past season or two, which is likely the explanation for her looking taller and her shoulders broader and more prominent. Also in pictures Yuna looks taller than Mao by around a cm or two and Yuna is 164 or 165 cm I believe.

to me when i compare Mao now with at last years worlds she looks much healthier and I think Mao is around the 164-165, cause to me she looks a tiny bit taller than yuna, but maybe that's because she has such long legs!

anyway thaanks for all the links and montages it was soo nice to see, and I agree Mao's skating is natural, pure & light it's the kind of skating that draws the audience in... she is such a delight to watch! wish her all the best at worlds she really deserves it!

anyway thaanks for all the links and montages it was soo nice to see, and I agree Mao's skating is natural, pure & light it's the kind of skating that draws the audience in... she is such a delight to watch! wish her all the best at worlds she really deserves it!

Yeah I think she is a simply wonderful skater; she could totally leave out the jumps and I would still enjoy watching her. Also, I hope she knows that her celebrity extends beyond the confines of her home country of Japan and that her skating is appreciated worldwide.

wish there would be more news now, before worlds beginn i would love to hear how she is preparing for worlds, and what her focus will be! one thing i noticed sice sato became her coac is that the media attention around her has decreased, probably to give her some privacy!

I absolutely love Mao's skating. She is such a complete skater. The COP ur rules have hurt her career, but she is such a fighter to take on the challenge and improve her jumps. All this after winning two world championships and an Olympic silver. Many others would have been satisfied with those accomplishments. The way she handled the tragedy of her mother's passing makes me respect her even more.

I found it really impactful when Mao was struggling over the past few seasons with placements...and it really hit home after all she has been through this season
It's very inspiring about the power of love the fans show skaters!!

I love Mao and wish her gets Gold at World with two beautiful programs. I love her ex programs particularly. She just shines and beautiful. I loved it when she skated with Jeff for that Aladin program, so cute and sweet

Watching the two clips together, you can see that Mao's form used to be exactly like Midori's, but now, she has incorporated some of Yagudin’s form of using the right side of the body to begin the rotation.

For me, it was interesting to see the loop jump comparison, because I knew that something had changed with Mao's loop because this season, I started hearing this huge sound of her edge slicing through the ice as she took off, and I assumed something had changed so that she was no longer 'pre-rotating' on her loop, but I didn't know what it looked like, but looking at the clip made me see exactly how it had changed.

And also, I could tell in real time that her salchow had changed, that there was a smoothness to the jump that wasn't there before, but watching it in slow motion enabled me to see what exactly had been amended.

Actually, I found it amazing to see that these corrections that she is making are, from an amateur's perspective, so small and minute.